PORTSMOUTH — For the second straight year, Portsmouth senior Colby Fahrney can lay claim to being the best high school long jumper in Rhode Island.

Fahrney repeated as long jump champion at Saturday’s R.I. Indoor Track Championship held at the Providence Career & Technical Academy. His best leap of 23 feet, 2 inches was a full nine inches further than his nearest competitor, and over a foot more than his winning effort last year.

Thanks to some other fine individual efforts, the PHS boys’ team placed fourth overall in the meet with 36.5 points — the best showing for any public school. La Salle Academy (76) came in first, followed by Bishop Hendricken (65), and St. Raphael Academy (41).

The girls’ team tied for 14th place in the meet, which was won by La Salle.

Besides his repeat win in the long jump, Fahrney also came in fifth place in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.64 seconds. Only two-100ths of a second separated him from the second-place finisher.

Fahrney was also a member of the PHS boys’ 4x200-meter relay team, along with Owen Malone, Thomas McGraw, and Jack Cianciolo, which came in fourth with a time of 1:36.32.

PHS senior Kaden Kluth, looking to repeat as 1,000-meter run champion, was edged by St. Raphael’s Devan Kipyego in the finals and had to settle for second place. Kluth clocked a time of 2:34.8, less than two-10ths of second behind Kipyego.

The results were even closer in the 1,500-meter run, in which Kipyego nipped Kluth at the finish, winning by just a 10th of a second. Kluth ran the race in 4:03.48.

Kluth was also a member of the PHS 4x400-meter relay team, which came in fourth in a time of 3:36.88. The other runners were Jeff Brady, Harrison Goodfriend, and John Maedke. 

Brady also competed in the high jump, and tied for sixth with a best leap of 5 feet, 10 inches.

Goodfriend took seventh place in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:27.87.

Girls’ results

The best showing for the PHS girls’ team was in the 4x400-meter relay, run by Kitty Damon, Marin Goodfriend, Ellie Skeels, and Katie Spaner. They came in fourth place, clocking a time of 4:19.48.

In the shot put, senior Erin O’Connell came in fifth with a best toss of 33 feet, 5.5 inches.

Goodfriend and Damon came in eighth and ninth place with times of 1:43.51 and 1:43.61, respectively, in the 600-meter run.